This special issue poses the questions: to what degree are race and technology intertwined? Can race be considered a technology or a form of media—that is, not only a mechanism, but also a practical or industrial art? Could race be not simply an object of representation and portrayal, of knowledge or truth, but also a technique that one uses, even as one is used by it—a carefully crafted, historically inflected system of tools, mediation, or enframing that builds history and identity?

The report identifies key challenges for effective policy making and implementation in a rapidly changing, globalised, technology-rich, and densely networked UK. It focuses on implications for: crime prevention and criminal justice; health, the environment and wellbeing; skills, employment and education; preventing radicalisation and extremism; social mobility; and social integration.

According to the report, identity in the UK is changing and technology is one of several important drivers of this change. The report considers these changes “within a wider context of demographic change” and notes that the “increasing diversity of the UK’s population means that dual, ethnic and national identities will continue to become more important.”

In its conclusion the report advises

For policy makers understanding the changing nature of identity in the UK will be increasingly important for effective policy making and implementation. Failure to do so may lead to missed opportunities to, for example, strengthen social integration, reduce exclusion, enhance open policy making, and make effective use of identities as a resource.Government would also benefit from drawing upon a deeper scientific understanding of people’s evolving identities when developing, implementing and testing policies